#or he had unfinished business on earth but then was bound to the church

[cannibal-rat]

Muire D'yaeblen

[lionofstone]

I was tagged by @lostlastsforever756! thank you, this is a fun challenge! 

I’m going to tag: @captaindicks @redxheart and literally anyone else who writes who wants to do it!! I’m struggling to come up with urls at the moment but I know there are lots of you!! 

rules

List the first lines (or paragraphs) of your last 20 stories (or however many you have altogether). I shared 15! 

See if there are any patterns.

Then, tag your favourite authors

ON AO3:

“It was a common misconception— that’s what happens when stories get passed down through word of mouth and rumour— but Merlin never attended Hogwarts. He hadn’t needed to, not when he was a naturally gifted sorcerer, who dealt with an entirely different branch of magick. He minded his business, he never strayed too far from Camelot, and he never paid any attention to the strange castle in Scotland.” -- from don’t let me hold you here (i’m not sure i want you to stay), an Arthurian Legend/Harry Potter fusion. 

“He didn’t mean to become immortal. It wasn’t premeditated and it wasn’t his birthright; it was a promise. Over the years since, he’d been offered ways out, handed silver daggers and steaming cups and magick spells that all promote relief, escape, death— but Merlin has never once broken a promise.” -- from the earth will hold me here (until you decide to stay) a continuation of the above.  

“the first time she called the winter soldier a good man, she meant a good shot, a good trainer, a good soldier. she meant good in the way of the red room, in the way of her twisted moral compass, and she was sure that he understood. but he blinked at her, twice, fast, an unfamiliar action, and she thought that maybe she'd scratched the surface of something more.” -- from (i’m gonna) give my secrets away, a buckynat mcu fic

ON TUMBLR: 

“‘She looks like death!’ She hears someone whisper as she passes them on the street, and curves her pale lips into a smirk as she wonders what her sister would think of that.” -- from pestilence 

“She’s a frail thing. A tight waist, count-the-ribs through her dress, jutting collar bones and knobbly knees, sunken cheeks and a long neck. Her breath comes out in jagged gasps and her speech is always in forms of future tense and tears. Hunger. Back breaking, stomach aching, completely insatiable hunger. That’s her nature.” -- from famine

“Some would say she has blood on her hands, but she prefers to think that she carries it in her mouth. Deep red and thick, the blood of revolution and monarchies. Blood mingled with words that she releases at just the right moment to make a perfect impact. It stains her tongue to the point that kindness is near impossible, friendship is all but forgotten. She is scraped knees and red eyes, whispers and shouts, all of it timed to the exact right moment. She carries words in her mouth, passion and fury, triumph and defeat, the thrill of a battle cry, personal and impersonal. And blood. So much blood.” -- from war 

“She is the oldest, in terms of eternities, and yet she follows behind her sisters, the last to arrive at any of their events. (She has no power over the souls that have already passed or the ones who are still living. Her power rests in those on the brink, the ones who have not yet passed, but have just given up life, these are the souls that she takes up carefully in her hand and send whichever way is necessary for that particular being.) Death has never been one for watching the living. She just never cared.” - from death

“maybe this is what you get for loving the divine. the taste of blood in the back of your throat and eyes itchy from crying, a mess of a bedsheet and your sister running her fingers through your hair because you’re too tired to fall asleep.” -- from this, an unfinished scrap of an idea

“They had always been seen as different. With a name like Xephos, they were bound to stand out. A name that every substitute teacher mispronounced, that was never on those bracelets or mugs or signs sold at farmers markets and souvenir shops. A name that they had to spell every time they said it because apparently saying ‘zee-fuh-OO-sss’ wasn’t enough for most people.” -- from xephos, one of the name-based prompts I did last year

“Morgan was thirteen when she fell in the lake.” -- from morgan, another name-based prompt

“She is quiet. She has always been quiet, and yet, you know so much about her. When you first found her, covered, somehow, in golden light and song, in the garden behind your house, she had only told you her name. You figured out the rest on your own.” -- from an angel captived watching a kids nativity and getting really close to the stage

“Imagine the heroes. Imagine victores in bello, the celebrated veterans, the newly made winners. They’re the first of their kind; the first to experience war and the first to win it and the first to be broken by it. The fraction of the Host that both stood with Heaven and made it through the war alive is smaller than it should be, smaller than they like to focus on, but they’re here, and they’re alive, and that’s worth celebrating.” -- from imagine michael 

WIPS/UNPOSTED: 

“She has friends outside of work. Or, she tries to. She has acquaintances-she-calls-friends that she goes to church with who she occasionally talks to about her life, mostly to tell stories of the antics people at work get up to.” -- from so what does that make god (to the girl that you love), an unfinished Lucifer/Ella Lucifer fic 

“‘Find another ghost hunter.’ Katy’s voice cut across the front lawn, her hands shoved in her trouser pockets, her usual trench streaming behind her in the wind. Noah trotted along behind her, his little paws silent against the pavement. Payton, who’d been sitting in the car, rolled down the window at the sound of Katy’s shout.” -- from the katy quinn adventures, a (potential) series about a ghost hunter named katy, her girlfriend payton, and their dog noah. 

“The first thing he did when he landed was go to a diner. It was called The Greasy Spoon and it stank of cheap meat and burnt gravy. The food tasted worse than it smelled. He didn’t care. He felt as though he hadn’t eaten in a thousand years. In all fairness, he hadn’t. It hadn’t been a problem before.” -- from luciferous, my creative writing coursework this year 

I didn’t specifically notice any patterns, but I guess I always try to start with something startling?? Like, ‘he didn’t mean to become immortal’ or ‘morgan was thirteen when she fell into the lake’ are both statements that make people stop?? they’re unexpected, I guess, or at least I hope they are! And when I start with dialogue, which is rare, it’s the same thing: ‘she looks like death!’ or ‘find another ghost hunter!’ 

also I’ve noticed this before about myself but I don’t like revealing character’s names right away?? I will almost always try to obscure it until later on in the piece. I think the only one here where I don’t do that is the katy quinn adventures but that’s because this story would be one of the later in the collection. 

an interesting breakdown (at least to me): ten of these are about women, three are about men, one is in second person with an unspecified gender, and one is about someone who’s genderless. 

[frmartinshomiliesandreflections]

2nd November >> Fr. Martin's Gospel Reflections / Homilies on Matthew 11:25-30/Mark 15:33-39,16:1-6 for All Souls Day: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed: ‘He has risen, he is not here’.

All Souls Day: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed.

Gospel (Europe, Africa, New Zealand, Australia & Canada)

Mark 15:33-39,16:1-6

Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last

When the sixth hour came there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you deserted me?’ When some of those who stood by heard this, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling on Elijah.’ Someone ran and soaked a sponge in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave it him to drink saying; ‘Wait and see if Elijah will come to take him down.’ But Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. And the veil of the Temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The centurion, who was standing in front of him, had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was a son of God.’    When the sabbath was over, Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices with which to go and anoint him. And very early in the morning on the first day of the week they went to the tomb, just as the sun was rising.    They had been saying to one another, ‘Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?’ But when they looked they could see that the stone – which was very big – had already been rolled back. On entering the tomb they saw a young man in a white robe seated on the right-hand side, and they were struck with amazement. But he said to them, ‘There is no need for alarm. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified: he has risen, he is not here. See, here is the place where they laid him.’

Gospel (USA)

Matthew 11:25-30

Come to me ... and I will give you rest.

At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.    “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Reflections (5)

(i) All Souls Day: The Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

I always find November a somewhat sombre and difficult month. The golden colours of Autumn are quickly giving way to the barrenness of winter. As the month progresses, the days will get gradually shorter and darkness increasingly makes its presence felt. We lose the colours of nature and the life-giving quality of our light. It is a month I associate with loss. It is perhaps fitting then that November is the month when we reflect upon more personal experiences of loss, the loss of significant people in our lives, people who have journeyed with us, who gave us love and whom we loved in return. November 2nd, the Commemoration of All Souls is a day when we do that in a special way.

On this day, we feel a sense of communion with our faithful departed. As followers of a risen Lord, we believe that our faithful have not just departed from us but have also returned to God, from whom they came. We understand death as a door through which we pass back to the source of our being, the Creator of all life. We also believe that our loved ones, in passing over into God, do not break their communion with us. Even though they have departed from us, they remain in communion with us and we remain in communion with them. A vital stream of life continues to flow between our deceased loved ones and ourselves. The faith and love that bound us together in this life still binds us to them when they pass over into the next life. One of the ways we expressed our love for our loved ones in this life was by praying for them. Our loved ones who have died can still be touched by the love that finds its voice in prayer. Prayerful remembrance is one of the ways we continue to give expression to our loving communion with them. Such prayer helps them and can also help us. None of us will have had a perfect relationship even with those we have loved the most. When someone close to us dies, there is always some unfinished business. Praying for our loved ones can help to heal whatever may need healing in our relationship with them. We give expression to our love for them in our prayer. As a result our communion with them can deepen after their death until it comes to fullness at the moment when we too pass over from this life and are united with them in God’s love at that great banquet of life portrayed in today’s first reading.

Although nothing is more painful than the loss of a loved one in death, our faith gives us this hope-filled vision in the face of death. In today’s second reading, Paul says that ‘hope is not deceptive, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us’. Our hope is grounded in God’s love for us now, a very personal love that is poured into the hearts of each one of us through the Holy Spirit. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul says that ‘love never ends’ and that is supremely true of God’s love. God’s love, revealed in Jesus and poured into our hearts through the Spirit, continues to hold onto us when we pass through the door of death. As all authentic human love is always life-giving for the one loved, God’s love is supremely life-giving for us even in the face of our bodily death. What God’s love has already done for us through his Son and the Spirit in this life is the assurance of what God’s love will do for us in eternity. As Paul says in that our second reading, ‘Now that we have been reconciled (to God), surely we may count on being saved by the life of his Son’

What Paul says confirms what Jesus himself says to us in one of the gospel readings for today’s commemoration. There, Jesus reflects upon his deep communion with God his Father, ‘No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son’. The knowledge he speaks about is the fruit of the love that flows between him and God his Father. Jesus also declares that he wants to draw us all into that deep loving communion he has with God, ‘No one knows the Father except the Son, and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him’. That is why Jesus can then go on to say, ‘Come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest’. The ‘rest’ he speaks about is not just the absence of activity. It is that fullness of life which flows from our being in communion with God, from our sharing in Jesus’ own communion with God. It is similar to the rest, the peace, we feel when we know ourselves to be unconditionally loved by someone. Through faith, we can experience in this life something of that rest the Lord speaks about, but we will only know it fully when we finally allow ourselves to be grasped completely by God’s love in eternity. This day we pray that our departed loved ones would know this rest in all its fullness.

And/Or

(ii) All Souls Day: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

The feast of all souls is a day when we remember all our loved ones who have died. We all have people we want to remember and pray for today. Our praying for the dead is one of the ways that we give expression to our continuing communion with our loved ones who have died. We believe in the communion of saints, that deep spiritual bond between those who have reached the end of their earthly pilgrimage and those, like ourselves, who are still on that pilgrimage. Our deceased loved ones continue to relate to us and we continue to them, in a new and different way. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, we believe that beyond death, our loved ones are being drawn into the risen life of Jesus. In the language of today’s gospel reading, the Son who knows the Father intimately is now fully revealing the Father to them, and in coming to share in Jesus’ own intimate relationship with God his Father, they are finding rest from all that burdened them in this life. For them, life has changed not ended, and our relationship with them has changed not ended. Their closer relationship with the Lord brings them closer to us in the Lord. Every year, the church gives us this day, the 2nd of November, to express our relationship with those we were close to in this life who have died. We pause this day to give thanks for their lives, to pray for them, and to ask them to pray for us.

And/Or

(iii) All Souls: Commemoration of all the faithful departed

Today we remember all our faithful departed. Most of us will be remembering those we have known and loved - family members and good friends. Indeed, the whole month of November is a time when we remember our dead in a special way. As Christians, our remembering of those who have died is always a prayerful remembering. We remember them before the Lord. Remembering our departed loved ones before the Lord, praying for them, is one of the ways we give expression to our ongoing communion with them in the Lord. We believe that they are with the Lord, and that the Lord is also with us in this life. It is that shared relationship with the Lord which keeps us in communion with our loved ones who have died. In praying for our loved one, we pray in petition for them, asking the Lord to bring them to the fullness of his life and peace, in keeping with his invitation to those who are burdened to come to him and to find rest, in today’s gospel reading. We ask that they would come to know God the Father as Jesus does, in keeping with his promise in the gospel reading to reveal the Father to us. We also pray in thanksgiving for them, thanking God for the gift of their lives and for all the ways the Lord blessed us through them. Today, we confidently entrust our loved ones who have died to God who so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that we may have life and have it to the full.

And/Or

(iv) All Souls Day: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

The feast of all souls is a day when we remember all our loved ones who have died. We all have people we want to remember and pray for today. Our praying for the dead is one of the ways that we give expression to our continuing communion with our loved ones who have died. We believe in the communion of saints, that deep spiritual bond between those who have reached the end of their earthly pilgrimage and those, like ourselves, who are still on that pilgrimage. The group of women who had followed Jesus in Galilee and had come up to Jerusalem from Galilee with him, were in communion with Jesus as he was dying. They were looking on from a distance as he was dying. Once he died, they must have thought that their communion with him was broken forever. Yet, when they went to the tomb to anoint his body on that first Easter morning, they heard the wonderful news that Jesus who had been crucified was now risen and that he would soon meet his followers again in Galilee. Their communion with Jesus and his with them had not been broken by death after all. He would continue to relate to them, and they could continue to relate to him, even if in a new and different way. Beyond death, our loved ones continue to relate to us and we to them, in a new and different way. Every year, the church gives us this day, the 2nd of November, to express our relationship with those we were close to in this life who have died. We pause this day to give thanks for their lives, to pray for them, and to ask them to pray for us.

And/Or

(v) All Souls Day: Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed

Today is a day when we remember all our loved ones who have died. We all have people we want to remember and pray for today. Our praying for the dead is one of the ways that we give expression to our communion with our loved ones who have died. We believe in the communion of saints, that deep spiritual bond between those who have reached the end of their earthly pilgrimage and ourselves who are still on that pilgrimage. In the gospel reading this morning, a group of women who had followed Jesus in Galilee and had come up to Jerusalem from Galilee with him, were in communion with Jesus as he was dying. They were looking on from a distance as he hung from the cross. Once he died, they must have thought that their communion with him was broken forever. Yet, when they went to the tomb to anoint his body on that first Easter morning, they heard the wonderful news that Jesus who had been crucified was now risen. Their communion with Jesus and his with them had not been broken by death after all. He would continue to relate to them, and they could continue to relate to him, in a new and different way. Because of Jesus’ death and resurrection we believe that beyond death, our loved ones are being drawn into the risen life of Jesus; for them, life has changed not ended, and our relationship with them has changed not ended. Because of our communion with the Lord in this life, and their new communion with the Lord in the next life, we and they remain in communion, in an even deeper communion, even though it is not visible. Every year, the church gives us this day, the 2nd of November, to express in a prayerful way our communion with those we were close to in this life who have died. We pause this day to give thanks for their lives, to pray for them, and to ask them to pray for us.

Fr. Martin Hogan, Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin, D03 AO62, Ireland.

Email: sjtbclontarf@eircom.net or  frmartinhogan@gmail.com

Parish Website: www.stjohnsclontarf.ie  Please join us via our webcam.

Twitter: @SJtBClontarfRC.

Facebook: St John the Baptist RC Parish, Clontarf.

Tumblr: Saint John the Baptist Parish, Clontarf, Dublin.

[andthereshegoess]

Forty Rules of Love

Rule 1

How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.

Rule 2

The path to the Truth is a labour of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.

Rule 3

You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover.

Rule 4

Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks everything. Intellect is always cautious and advices, ‘Beware too much ecstasy’, whereas love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures.

Rule 5

Most of problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstanding. Don’t ever take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love, language, as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence.

Rule 6

Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is the best to find a person who will be your mirror. Remember only in another person’s heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.

Rule 7

Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neighbourhood of despair. Even when all doors remain closed, God will open up a new path only for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that he has been denied.

Rule 8

Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to look at the end of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.

Rule 9

East, west, south, or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.

Rule 10

The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new self to be born, hardship is necessary. Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, Love can only be perfected in pain.

Rule 11

The quest for love changes user. There is no seeker among those who search for love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for love, you start to change within and without.

Rule 12

There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of stars in the visible universe. Don’t confuse power-driven, self-centered people with true mentors. A genuine spiritual master will not direct your attention to himself or herself and will not expect absolute obedience or utter admiration from you, but instead will help you to appreciate and admire your inner self. True mentors are as transparent as glass. They let the light of God pass through them.

Rule 13

Try not to resist the changes, which come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?

Rule 14

God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly. He is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that is slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection. We are each an unfinished work of art both waiting and striving to be completed. God deals with each of us separately because humanity is fine art of skilled penmanship where every single dot is equally important for the entire picture.

Rule 15

It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is far more difficult is to love fellow human being with all their imperfections and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving. There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can neither truly love nor truly know God.

Rule 16

Real faith is the one inside. The rest simply washes off. There is only one type of dirt that cannot be cleansed with pure water, and that is the stain of hatred and bigotry contaminating the soul. You can purify your body through abstinence and fasting, but only love will purify your heart.

Rule 17

The whole universe is contained within a single human being-you. Everything that you see around, including the things that you might not be fond of and even the people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degrees. Therefore, do not look for Sheitan outside yourself either. The devil is not an extraordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within. If you set to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness.

Rule 18

If you want to change the ways others treat you, you should first change the way you treat yourself, fully and sincerely, there is no way you can be loved. Once you achieve that stage, however, be thankful for every thorn that others might throw at you. It is a sign that you will soon be showered in roses.

Rule 19

Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step. That is the hardest part and that is what you are responsible for. Once you take that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Don’t go with the flow. Be the flow.

Rule 20

We were all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and unique. No two people are alike. No hearts beat to the same rhythm. If God had wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so. Therefore, disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others is an amount to disrespecting God’s holy scheme.

Rule 21

When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his chamber of prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his tavern. In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearance. Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who they are. When a Sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed instead opens a third eye – the eye that sees the inner realm.

Rule 22

Life is a temporary loan and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of Reality. Only children would mistake a toy for the real thing. And yet human beings either become infatuated with the toy or disrespectfully break it and throw it aside. In this life stay away from all kinds of extremities, for they will destroy your inner balance. Sufis do not go to extremes. A Sufi always remains mild and moderate.

Rule 23

The human being has a unique place among God’s creation. “I breathed into him of My Spirit,” God says. Each and every one of us without exception is designed to be God’s delegate on earth. Ask yourself, just how often do you behave like a delegate, if you ever do so? Remember, it fells upon each of us to discover the divine spirit inside and live by it.

Rule 24

Hell is in the here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Every time we hate, envy or fight someone we tumble straight into the fires of hell.

Rule 25

Each and every reader comprehends the Holy Qur’an on a different level of tandem with the depth of his understanding. There are four levels of insight. The first level is the outer meaning and it is the one that the majority of the people are content with. Next is the Batin – the inner level. Third, there is the inner of the inner. And the fourth level is so deep it cannot be put into words and is therefore bound to remain indescribable.

Rule 26

The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through an invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in a silent conversation. Do no harm. Practice compassion. And do not gossip behind anyone’s back – not even a seemingly innocent remark! The words that come out of our mouths do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space and they will come back to us in due time. One man’s pain will hurt us all. One man’s joy will make everyone smile.

Rule 27

Whatever you speak, good or evil, will somehow come back to you. Therefore, if there is someone who harbours ill thoughts about you, saying similarly bad things about him will only make matters worse. You will be locked in a vicious circle of malevolent energy. Instead for forty days and nights say and think nice things about that person. Everything will be different at the end of 40 days, because you will be different inside.

Rule 28

The past is an interpretation. The future is on illusion. The world does not more through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to the future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain within the present moment.

Rule 29

Destiny doesn’t mean that your life has been strictly predetermined. Therefore, to live everything to the fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of the universe is all pervading and it is composed on 40 different levels. Your destiny is the level where you play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.

Rule 30

The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused, attacked and condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a sing bad word about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame. How can there be opponents or rivals or even “others” when there is no “self” in the first place? How can there be anyone to blame when there is only One?

Rule 31

If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as a feather. Through an illness, accident, loss or fright, one way or another, we are all faced with incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental and more compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to become milder, while some others end up becoming even harsher than before…

Rule 32

Nothing should stand between you and God. No imams, priests, rabbits or any other custodians of moral or religious leadership. Not spiritual masters and not even your faith. Believe in your values and your rules, but never lord them over others. If you keep breaking other people’s hearts, whatever religious duty you perform is no good. Stay away from all sorts of idolatry, for they will blur your vision. Let God and only God be your guide. Learn the Truth, my friend, but be careful not to make a fetish out of your truths.

Rule 33

While everyone in this world strives to get somewhere and become someone, only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness. Live this life as light and empty as the number zero. We are no different from a pot. It is not the decorations outside but the emptiness inside that holds us straight. Just like that, it is not what we aspire to achieve but the consciousness of nothingness that keeps us going.

Rule 34

Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission a power that comes within. Those who submit to the divine essence of life will live in unperturbed tranquillity and peace even the whole wide world goes through turbulence after turbulence.

Rule 35

In this world, it is not similarities or regularities that take us a step forward, but blunt opposites. And all the opposites in the universe are present within each and every one of us. Therefore the believer needs to meet the unbeliever residing within. And the nonbeliever should get to know the silent faithful in him. Until the day one reaches the stage of Insane-I Kamil, the perfect human being, faith is a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming opposite: disbelief.

Rule 36

This world is erected upon the principle of reciprocity. Neither a drop of kindness nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated. For not the plots, deceptions, or tricks of other people. If somebody is setting a trap, remember, so is God. He is the biggest plotter. Not even a leaf stirs outside God’s knowledge. Simply and fully believe in that. Whatever God does, He does it beautifully.

Rule 37

God is a meticulous dock maker. So precise is His order that everything on earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately. For each there is a time to love and a time to die.

Rule 38

It is never too late to ask yourself, “Am I ready to change the life I am living? Am I ready to change within?” Even if a single day in your life is the same as the day before, it surely is a pity. At every moment and with each new breath, one should be renewed and renewed again. There is only one-way to be born into a new life: to die before death.

Rule 39

While the part change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who departs this world, a new one is born. And every descent person who passes away is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but also nothing ever really changes. For every Sufi who dies, another is born somewhere.

Rule 40

A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western. Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.